The Reasons Behind India's Indian Passport Continues to Drop in Worldwide Standing

In recent months, a video from an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction on social media.

The influencer stated although neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka offered easier access of Indian tourists, obtaining visas to travel to most Western and European countries remained a challenge.

Such concerns regarding India's poor passport strength was reflected in the latest global passport ranking, ranking the country in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, a decline of five positions than last year.

Officials in India have not issued a statement regarding these findings yet.

Countries like Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size compared to India – a nation that is the fifth-largest economy globally – are ranked higher on the index at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

Actually, India's rank over the last ten years has remained in the 80s, even dipping to ninetieth place in 2021. These rankings appear poor when measured against Asian nations such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea, all maintaining leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Indicates

The power of a passport indicates a country's global influence and global influence. This leads to enhanced travel freedom for its citizens, improving commercial and learning opportunities. A weak passport means more paperwork, higher visa costs, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods for travel.

But despite the drop in position, the count of nations offering visa-free access to Indians has grown over the last ten years.

As an instance, in 2014 – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed office – fifty-two nations provided visa-free travel for Indian passport holders and its passport ranked 76th on the index.

A year later, it fell to eighty-fifth place, then rose to 80th in 2023 and 2024, declining once more to the 85th position currently. Meanwhile, countries allowing visa-free travel to Indian citizens increased from 52 in 2015 to 60 in 2023 and 62 in 2024.

The Competitive Global Mobility Landscape

The count of visa-free destinations this year (fifty-seven) exceeds the number eight years ago (fifty-two), but the country's position for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. So, why is that?

Experts say that a major reason is the increasingly competitive landscape in global mobility – meaning countries are forming additional travel agreements for their populations' advantage and economic growth. As per a 2025 report, the global average count of countries people can visit without visas has almost doubled from 58 in 2006 to one hundred nine currently.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has increased the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 in the past decade. As a result, its rank on the index has improved from 94th to 60th in that same duration.

In comparison, The Indian passport – which was ranked 77th on the index in July – dropped to eighty-fifth place in October following the loss of two nations.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

A former Indian ambassador notes there are other factors influencing a nation's passport power, like economic and political conditions as well as its receptiveness to accepting travelers from other countries.

For instance, the American passport has dropped out of the top 10 currently holding twelfth place – a historic low – because of its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The diplomat recalls that during the seventies, Indians enjoyed visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, but that changed after the Sikh separatist movement during the eighties. Subsequent political upheavals have continued to damage the country's reputation as a stable, democratic country.

"Numerous nations are also becoming increasingly wary regarding migrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a large quantity of citizens emigrating to other countries or remaining beyond visa limits and that interferes with the national image."

Factors like the security level of a national passport and immigration processes also play a role to obtaining visa-free entry to foreign nations.

Enhanced Security Measures

The Indian passport faces ongoing security threats. Last year, authorities detained 203 people for alleged visa and passport fraud. The country also has cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The diplomat says that new technologies, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and streamline immigration. This electronic document contains a microchip holding biometric data, making it harder to counterfeit or alter the passport.

However, increased diplomatic efforts and travel partnerships continue essential for enhancing international travel freedom for Indian citizens and, by extension, India's passport ranking.